Tennessee Hotel Owner Loses Law Suit Over Claims That It is the "Dirtiest Hotel" In America

Including a hotel on the "2011 Dirtiest Hotels" list doesn't rise to the level of defamation, according to a ruling by the U.S. 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals, according to NBC News. The court found that there was nothing defamatory about including a Tennessee hotel on the list because the inclusion was based on visitors' opinions, according to the court ruling.

The owner of the Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, filed to reinstate a defamation lawsuit against TripAdvisor for the inclusion on the list. The ruling found against him, with the judge saying it's obvious the list communicates the opinions of users of TripAdvisor.

"First, TripAdvisor's use of 'dirtiest' amounts to rhetorical hyperbole," Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote. "Second, the general tenor of the '2011 Dirtiest Hotels' list undermines any impression that TripAdvisor was seriously maintaining that Grand Resort is, in fact, the dirtiest hotel in America."

Kenneth M. Seaton sues TripAdvisor in 2011, accusing the website of defamation and portraying his business in a way that would keep customers from staying at his facility. Judge Thomas W. Phillips in Knoxville rejected the claim in August 2012.

TripAdvisor advertises itself as the world's largest travel site, aiding people in finding travel information, including posting reviews and opinions of content related to travel experiences as well as participating in a forum where travelers are able to give each other advice.

The site regularly compiles best and worst lists that take customer comments about the featured places into account.

Moore brought up the point that lists of that type are common online, addressing a wide variety of topics, and she said a reasonable reader understands that being placed on such a list is not intended to be a statement of fact.

"The quotations regarding other hotels on the '2011 Dirtiest Hotels' list confirm that the list cannot be reasonably understood as asserting that the hotels on the list are, in fact, the ten dirtiest in America," Moore wrote.